Examples Of Figurative Language In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Her descriptions of people’s content being the same through images of junk in old bags allows her to drive home the point that people aren’t all the different, no matter the appearance. The small detail of Hurston claiming she has no race allows her to plunge into the powerful bag metaphor, effectively portraying her conception of race. Hurston’s simple details followed by powerful yet perceptible images powerfully portray her thoughts and points on racial conflict.

Zora Neale Hurston, known as one of the most symbolic African American women during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930’s. Hurston was known as a non fiction writer, anthropologist and folklorist. Hurston’s literature has served as a big eye opener during the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating black dialect and their traditions. Most of her published stories “depict relationships among black residents in her native southern Florida, was largely unconcerned with racial injustices” (Bomarito 89). Hurston was unique when it came to her racial point of views, promoting white racism instead of black racism. Even though her works had been forgotten by the time of her death, now her literature has left a bigger impact to future literature

For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the

Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers for her use of dialect and folk speech. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurston’s technique “to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience” (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem Renaissance, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream society’s view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in complete sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so much faulty local color fiction about Negroes” (www.pbs.org).

Readers can feel the emotional appeal in Hurston’s writing through her diction. Her choice of words

The beginning part of a novel is one of the most important parts, as it sets the stage for what’s to come for the remainder of the novel. Thus, it is imperative for authors to address significant aspects in the beginning of their novels, which is an idea that is exemplified by both works by Hurston and Austen. In the two novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston and Pride and Prejudice by Austen, the opening sentences shape meaning to the novels by foreshadowing the eminent events of the novels and using figurative language to emphasize the importance of the polarized views and ideas of men and women that enflame the conflict throughout the novels.

In many novels, authors have implemented social constructs in order to shape the mood of the books. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston alludes to social class, especially race, subtly. Hurston’s background of anthropology and growing up as an African-American woman clearly plays a role in the social makeup of the novel. The main character of the novel, Janie, has various experiences in which readers can discover the social structures in her life. Through Janie’s story of self-discovery, Hurston reveals social constructs of the time, especially race and wealth, by including anecdotes, complex characters, and thought-provoking scenes that highlight controversial issues.

Throughout the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (written by author Zora Neale Hurston and published in September 1937) multiple motifs (a recurrent image, symbol, theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail that becomes a unifying element in an artistic work or text) have appeared amidst the chapters. Furthermore, motifs have played an excruciatingly important role overall throughout the book, whether it be a place, a person, the weather, or simply just a personʻs possession(s). Therefore, in this prompt I will explain the various motifs exhibited in the passages.

Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the life of Janie, an African American woman, who is struggling with identity and social issues. Even though Hurston wrote during the modernist movement era, it’s quite evident that the realism literary movement influence her writing. Even though there are aspect of Romanticism in the novel, Realism influences Hurston writing more, because it explores the everyday lives of the people, and the harsh reality of life for women.

Hurston’s use of personification and simile creates a comparison between the powerfulness of the storm and the powerlessness

With Hurston’s tricky dialect, her allusions are usually misunderstood or missed. However, Hurston’s allusions are also compelling because instead of saying a typical reference, she adds a unique twist to her reference. In conclusion, Hurston’s allusions from the novel will be discussed with quotes and the genuine meaning. In chapter one as the story begins, Hurston uses allusion to describe the porch sitters Janie talks about in chapter one.

In the essay, the author tends to use metaphor to apply to an object or action in the text to give us a better understanding and perspective of what is happening, in which made it interesting to read. For instance, when Hurston mentions that she was “thrown against a sharp white background” (Hurston 540). She does not feel any race, she is herself. She does not have any separate feelings about being an African American. Therefore, she introduces a striking metaphor when she realized that she was a “brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall” (Hurston 541). She compares herself to a brown bag full of random bobs. Hurston uses metaphor of colored bags to describe what people are like bags full of hopes, desires, and

     Zora Neale Hurston depicts the realness of Joe and Missy May through her writing style and by including her life experiences. Hurston

Does the title of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, make you chuckle? Giggle? Smirk? I find the title hilarious because she uses the word “eyes,” which signal sight, when the mouth, which signals speech, is the central facial feature of the book. In fact, speech is what gives birth to the story! But, whose story? To Hurston, the author matters. And in her book, black women are the authors. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, speech is the most important asset to black women, which is true because speech offers advantages to them that beauty, money, and mobility cannot.

Both Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston are similar to having the same concept about black women to have a voice and being perspective. These two authors are phenomenal women who impacted on the southern hospitality roots. Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston comment on fear, avenge, and righteousness among African American women that are abuse of their power. Walker and Hurston uses the same theory of feminism to point out the liberation that is told through the story of survival. The comparison of the two authors expresses hardship among characters to discover their purpose. Also, Walker fines Hurston books intruding on into detail the heritage. Hurston narratives was not dull it was more upscale and interesting to talk about change to become reality. Walker and Hurston develop a comparison of the folk tale tradition in black culture. (Howard 200)